World religions, elites, and popular religion -- Religious action : a Weberian model -- Elites and masses : Max Weber, Weberian scholars, and Marxist analysis -- China : state religion, elites, and popular religion in a syncretistic milieu -- India : Brahmans, renouncers, and popular Hinduism -- Nirvana and spirits : Buddhism and animism in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia -- Hierocracy and popular religion : Catholicism in 'traditional' Europe -- Elite scholars and popular saints : a brief excursus on Islam and Judaism -- Protestants, Catholics, and the reform of popular religion -- Comparisons.